There are some aspects of photography that in its nature are extremely hard to convey in photographic language. Can photography truly depict the intimacy of a couple? Can it explain the complex emotions and intangible nature of a relationship? This is something that Magdalena Kulak’s work ‘Traces’ attempts to confront. Magdalena explains that in this attempt to portray these complex ideas, that it only made her aware of of how useless the language was to convey it, and the impossibility of the story’s closure.

Hit the jump to see Magdalena's work, Traces.

“A language that is not able to express directly, fluctuates around the topic. The intimacy that I'm trying to talk about is elusive, ineffable and sometimes unclear. It changes over time, and in a relationship is perceived by each of us in different ways”

As Magdalena says, if a language cannot express something directly, it fluctuates around the topic, and in a style that echoes language, this is exactly what her photographs do. They create an ambiguous story that follows the traces left behind by a complex but intimate relationship.

“I focus on what is transient. I have a sense that the less secrets I reveal, the more I will be able to tell, due to imaginations associated with my photographs. I'm interested in the seemingly trivial everyday life, which in the context of other photographs and accordingly to the viewer causes various emotions and associations. There is no linearly told story.”

With no linear story to be told we are left to create are own story of the events in front of us, Magdalena’s photographs tell us about the past, and possibly the future just as an animal leaves it foot print we construct our own idea of the future of these events.